The Black Cat on 29/4/2019 at 10:03

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I just finished this amazing mission. I was absolutely blown away by the atmosphere, and very impressed by how much of it was from sound alone. I was shaken by Room 13, but the winter wing was a thoroughly bone chilling experience. I concur that the spooks were well placed and I am amazed by how little of it came from enemies. I'm still not over those training dummies. "Don't go down there" also threw me. The brilliant architecture of the hotel made it a joy to explore. This mission definitely deserved to win. Thank you for this incredible mission and congratulations!

Aged Raver on 6/6/2019 at 12:12

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Hi
Long post alert. I promise not to do it again.
As so much effort has gone into the game I wanted to say thank you. I know you were using mostly stock assets but, as others have said, the atmosphere created by clever placement of sound and silence had me on edge in the same way as a film by Hitchcock (obviously Psycho) or The Shining (Jack Nicholson in spirit-haunted hotel with spooky ballroom) or David Lynch’s Twin Peaks. The reference to Mister Jim Jim as a block of birch, immediately made me think of The Log Lady.

I played in Normal mode and knocked out everyone in sight, my usual method, then I could relax. Famous last words. That chair suddenly moving in one of the rooms made me physically freeze. Brilliant. Eventually after much use of helpful posts in this forum and a stats time of over 20 hours I completed Mission 2 and foolishly went back to my last save, to find missing chess pieces. With everyone unconscious, I was totally relaxed. You might say cocky. I’m sure I’d been in room 13 previously, because I remember cleaning up a little bit of blood on a bath mat, as one does, and I must have left by the way I got in. I returned and this time checked the bathroom thoroughly for chess pieces. You can imagine the complete shock when I closed that scroll. Inexplicably I set to, cleaning up with water arrows. It seemed the only decent thing to do. This was before I found out the bath could be seen through the window in the public corridor. Oh God, the bedroom. I didn’t know if I was cleaning in respect for Adora or, as often in real life, I didn’t want anyone to think it was me (for lesser crimes, you understand) but when the footsteps started, I froze. Very very clever! I’m alright now.

Back in 1998/9 I was sent a promotional copy of “Assassins” from “The Dark Project” and later bought the first 3 Thief games but I’m out-of-touch with latest developments in the gaming world and only belatedly came across the FM community, Darkloader, FMSel, and read about the competition that you won.

Well done authors, testers and all concerned. It’s a very fine game. For the most part the fear was not in running from missiles or worrying that snoring people would wake but the anticipation of what might happen. It was sensitively done and at times I was moved or felt sympathy e.g. for Elizabeth and even dingbat Sally Sue and was glad to return her doll. I laughed at the revulsion about M and W, at 40. Truly awful! As someone who wrote his first program in Sept 1967, I can confirm to the young maid who thought it gross, that such things do happen. If you’re lucky. Otherwise you have to dream. But back then we never dreamed of writing programs remotely as clever or attractive as this game. We thought we were at the cutting edge getting a few punched cards on a mainframe to print “Hello World”.

I downloaded the game only recently, and it looks like I've been playing the 1st release (TDP20AC_TheScarletCascabel_v1_) so at some time I’ll try the latest. Presumably I have to delete the old version first? I’ve since downloaded 1.1 but FMSel didn’t seem to detect and I didn’t want to lose saved games just yet as I’m still short of pawn 3, if anyone cares to offer a clue.

Once again hats off to craftsmanship and the attention to detail. Mind you, it beats me how the occupants of Room 14 got all those crates up the stairs, let alone up from the village.
Congratulations Tannar and Pukey Brunster. Brilliant!
Regards

pukey brunster on 6/6/2019 at 16:55

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We are nearly complete with the updated version, and hope to have it into beta very soon. A LOT of changes were made to overall aesthetic and gameplay, and life (as it so often does) has continually intruded ; ) But, we are almost there.

@Aged Raver, thank you for your detailed post, and no worries about the length - we love long posts, and enjoyed reading about your experiences. Also, it was funny and entertaining to read.

Hint for you, where to find Pawn 3 (a sneak preview from our upcoming re-release): Above the deep I never slip, be careful lest you take a dip.

Outright spoiler: on the rafters overlooking the pool.

We're very happy you enjoyed the mission, and hope you will play the updated version when it's released!

Aged Raver on 6/6/2019 at 18:01

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Oh! Thank you both for your replies and the hints. I'll follow them up shortly and then my spirit will be free! Well, until I start again. The Log Lady was a side character in the haunting TV series Twin Peaks. Surprisingly I've just found she has her own Wikipedia page which explains better than I can (you'll be pleased to know). (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Log_Lady)
Thank you again.
Regards

baeuchlein on 7/6/2019 at 17:45

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I am guilty of writing long posts as well, but I won't promise anything like that.:cheeky:



You have already been playing version 1.1 all the time, the newest version currently available. FMSel shortens zip file names and directory names at a certain point; the whole name displayed otherwise would have been "TDP20AC_TheScarletCascabel_v1_1". The first version of this campaign is displayed as "TDP20AC_TheScarletCascabel" in FMSel.